TK actions. Align smart objects in PS? Help

Hey everyone. I’m trying to improve my PP and making a conscious effort to become better with Photoshop.

I recently downloaded TK actions which I love but can’t figure out a way to align 2 smart objects when exposure blending (as per Sean Bagshaw’s video on YouTube).

Is there a way of doing this in TK or even photoshop itself. I know it’s easy enough to do with auto align layers but I’m struggling when they’re smart objects.

Basically my camera must have moved in between 2 exposures and I’m trying to solve the issue.

Many thanks and kind regards
Chris

I don’t think you can auto-align smart objects. You’ll need to rasterize each layer (Right Click on the layer, and select Rasterize Layer). Then you’ll be able to Auto-Align each layer. After you’ve cropped, or whatever you need to do, you can then convert each layer back to a smart object.

Or…if you don’t want to rasterize your layers you can make your alignment changes manually.

Select the top layer, change the blending mode to Difference, and use the Move Tool to nudge the layer until it lines up. Then switch back to Normal blend mode when you’re done.

You can also just drop the opacity of the top layer, and use the Move Tool to align. If you only have two images you want to blend, this can be pretty fast.

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Awesome thanks Ryan

I agree. If you have smart object layers you cannot use auto align In CC19. I just doubled checked TK action V6 combo, the TK drop down, Blend/align, and an error dialog box opens which says that auto align does not work on smart object. The work around I use is to set the top layer blend mode to exclusion (it provides a better for my eyes than difference, but both work) and use the move tool and up/down arrows.

You might want to check out this Sean Bagshaw’s video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxDIIP-5-40) on how he now uses TKV6 for what he used to call back blending. You’ll note that he uses smart object for his two image stacking/blending, but he never discusses auto alignment with smart objects. I think I’ll reach out to Tony and see if he has any thoughts or comments and then post up his response.

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Thanks very much for looking at that. I’ll try that and watch Sean’s video